The City of Surrey has avoided a civic strike after reaching a deal with CUPE workers Tuesday night, while the strike involving inside workers in Vancouver is turning into a war of words. 

Local 402 president Laurie Larsen said the union representing 1,500 civic workers in Surrey will recommend ratification of the settlement to its members, who will vote on Aug. 7.

"I'd characterize these negotiations as honourable and respectful, and that was key to reaching a deal that was beneficial to both parties," Larsen said on Tuesday in Surrey.

In Vancouver, the exchanges between both sides in the strike were reaching new lows. City officials allege CUPE inside workers pushed a pregnant woman when she was trying to renew a business licence the day before.

David McLellan, the city's deputy general manager of community services, alleged on Tuesday morning that three female picketers pushed the 31-year-old woman, who was crossing a picket line, from the sidewalk and tore up her papers.

Vancouver police confirmed they were called to the scene after a report of a woman being pushed, but after interviewing those involved, they decided not to lay any charges. 

Barry O'Neil, president of CUPE British Columbia, said on Tuesday afternoon that the City of Vancouver sank to a new low by making such "outrageous" and "unbelievable" allegations.

'Outrageous' allegations

"This is outrageous, absolutely outrageous, that the city would make allegations against its own employees without doing any research, without knowing what happened," O'Neil told CBC News.

"It's really, really come to the bottom of the barrel when they make this kind of allegations. It's unbelievable," he said.

Meanwhile, negotiators for the city and for CUPE locals 1004 and 15, representing 1,800 outside and 3,500 inside workers, did not return to the bargaining table on Tuesday.

The outside workers first walked off the job on July 20, forcing City Hall to suspend some municipal services, including residential garbage collection. The inside workers walked off on July 23, affecting services such as city-run day-care facilities, building inspections and parking bylaw enforcement.

Negotiations between the city and CUPE 391, which represents 800 library workers, were scheduled for Wednesday.

Agreements were reached in Burnaby and Delta on Monday night. The tentative contracts are five years in length and mirror the settlement signed by CUPE and the City of Richmond last week.

Talks between CUPE Local 389 and the District of North Vancouver continued on Tuesday night.